Twist. Twist. Twist.

By now it was entirely a nervous reflex.

Twist. Twist. Twist.

If anything was bothering her, or she was thinking too deeply, or she just didn’t have anything to do with her hands.

Twist. Twist. Twist.

She still clutched her necklace sometimes, and played with the charm. She still drummed her fingers, and scratched her head, and all the other millions of things that people do when they’re nervous, or bored, or thinking.

Twist. Twist. Twist.

But most of all she twisted her engagement ring.

Twist. Twist. Twist.

She didn’t know how long she’d been doing it this time, but, then, she was never really sure when she did it, because it was so entirely unconscious.

Twist. Twist. Pop.

This time it came off.

Scramble. Grab. Pop.

She snatched it before it could fall and slid it back on her finger. This was only the second time that had ever happened: once, when she first got it, she’d been fiddling with it and the ring, which wasn’t really perfectly her size, not that Roy really could have known that, slid off her finger. It was the worst moment (up to then) in her life, that split second when it was off. She felt bereft, alone, panicked. She got it back on and repositioned it carefully on her finger and promised herself she was never going to risk that again.

Clearly that had fallen by the wayside sometime in their three-year engagement.

This time she was mostly conscious of the way it didn’t feel the same as then. There was a rush of panic, but it wasn’t about feeling alone, or missing Roy, or anything like that. It was just a matter of whether or not she lost the ring, and how stupid she’d feel if she did. Then as she slid the ring back on there was a momentary hesitation, as if she’d almost liked the feeling when it was off. As if her finger felt lighter and so her heart did too. And as she slid it back on, she didn’t carefully reposition it and promise herself to stop fiddling with her ring; in fact, she started right back up.

Only now she was wondering what her feelings about the ring meant. Why wasn’t she worried? What was different now?

Twist. Twist. Twist.

The ring was upside down now, but she didn’t notice.

Twist. Twist. Twist.

And then she caught her friend Jim’s eye, and he grinned, and she forgot about the ring for a moment.

Twist. Twist. Stop.

Her hands stilled, and she smiled.